


Cheers

by Stonewall1862



Series: Fresh Bruises [4]
Category: Bring Me The Horizon
Genre: Carnivals, Dorks in Love, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Rachel is a Good Bro, Tornados, Vic is a good bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 00:39:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18789475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stonewall1862/pseuds/Stonewall1862
Summary: Short interlude of the final days of summer before college.





	Cheers

“What sort of carnival?” Oli asked skeptically, finishing buffing the headlight of his new Triumph T100. He had just brought it home and wanted to wash it, since it had gotten it a bit dusty. It was blistering in the August heat, but Oli still kept his tank-top on. It was one of the prototypes for his design company, and as such he dearly wanted to wear it all the time. 

Rachel stood with her arms in akimbo, her skin tanned in the summer sun. Her short shorts and tiny tank-top clung in the humidity, but she seemed to tolerate this better than Oli, who spent most afternoons inside to avoid it. “It’s a fun one with funnel cake and games and rides and since we’re going this afternoon, it will be less crowded for you.”

Oli frowned at her, wiping at a last spot on the motorcycle before sighing. “You’ve already told them that I’ll be there, haven’t you?”

Rachel raised an eyebrow from behind her sunglasses. How could someone so short be so intimidating? “Actually I just promised that I’d ask you for Kellin. I know it sucks for you two with Kellin’s phone being broken, so I figured I would help out.”

Smirking, Oli began to put away the cleaning supplies. “What is Vic going to do without you when you go away?”

“It’s only a two hour drive,” shrugged Rachel. “I’ll come visit on the weekends and Kellin and you will be in the same building as him. He’ll be fine.”

“I think he will miss you terribly,” Oli countered. “You’re a good anchor for him.”

Rachel did not say anything to that, and silently watched Oli finish his bike. Changing topics she inquired, “Have you told Kellin about this?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise. Think I should bring it this afternoon? Think he’ll like it?”

“Knowing Kellin? I’ll be impressed if he doesn’t sell his car and make you drive him everywhere just to ride it with you.”

 

“So you’re not scared of my driving anymore?” Vic raised an eyebrow at Kellin as he slid into the front seat of the Aries. 

“You have nothing on the taxi drivers in London,” Kellin smirked.

“Rub it in why don’t you,” Rachel piped up from the back seat. “Not all of us have boyfriends to take us on exotic foreign vacations.”

“Hey I took you to the Thousand Islands…” Vic pouted.

“And it was wonderful,” mollified Rachel, “but it was neither foreign, nor exotic.”

“Well I wouldn’t call the UK exotic…”

“Clearly you’ve never been to Scotland,” Kellin sniggered as Vic drove up the road, windows down for some semblance of temperature control. 

“What was it like?” inquired Rachel, genuine curiosity in her voice.

“Well, it was kind of cool for the summer. And their whisky is really strong. And the Lochs were really neat. And no one speaks good English, or at least not understandable, so I had to have Oli translate a bunch. Oh! And Oli wore a kilt and we went to a Ceilidh, which is this sort of traditional dance thing, which was super fun…”

“Oh my God I so want to see Oli in a kilt,” Rachel sighed.

“When I get my phone back I can show you the pictures Ms. Sykes got of us dancing,” Kellin grinned. 

“Was he wearing the kilt properly though?” she asked.

“What do you mean properly?” Vic followed.

A blush spread across Kellin’s cheeks as he tried to suppress his smile. “Yeah…”

“What are you talking about?” Vic tried again.

“You’re not supposed to wear anything under a kilt,” informed Rachel with a smirk.

“Like, anything anything? Including undies?”

“Including undies.”

“OK NOPE. I’m out of this conversation!” Vic shouted, parking the car while Rachel and Kellin laughed uproariously at him. 

Once in the little dirt parking lot, Kellin could see the carnival their little town put on every year at the end of summer. Rickety, but fun rides were set up, shacks of games, and tons of booths selling all sorts of fried food and fresh pressed lemonade decorated the park grounds. Looking about for the Ms. Sykes white Audi that Oli usually drove, he was disappointed to not see it. 

“Relax. We’re actually early for once. I told him 3 PM,” Rachel chided.

“I wasn’t nervous. I just didn’t see him,” Kellin pouted, making Rachel roll her eyes and Vic laugh. 

The roar of a motorcycle caught Kellin’s attention, and at first he simply watched the figure roll in, dust floating lazily up as it approached slowly, the helmet on the rider obscuring its identity. Why was it coming closer like it was going to park next to them? It was then that Kellin recognized the tattoos and ripped jeans, and Drop Dead tank, and his heart abandoned him straight out of his chest. 

Shutting off the engine, the boy continued to hold the black beast between his thin thighs, and slipped the helmet from his head, shaking out his chocolate locks. It seemed to go in slow motion for Kellin, whose mouth suddenly went dry, and heat pooled in his lower abdomen. Thanks to the lack of privacy in their homes, they hadn’t been able to have sex since returning from the U.K., and now that Kellin had a taste of Oli, nothing else satisfied, and he wanted all the time it seemed. 

“You can pick your jaw up anytime,” Oli smirked. 

Kellin just pointed and asked in awe, “Do I get to ride that home?”

“You referring to the motorcycle, or your boyfriend?” Rachel chuckled.

“Both,” came Kellin’s pathetic whine, earning a laugh from both Oli and Rachel. 

“That is so badass,” Vic added, nearly as star-struck as his best friend. “I wanna ride on it too.”

Looking affronted, Kellin scoffed, “Get your own cool boyfriend!”

Vic immediately looked to Rachel, and the second he opened his mouth a loud “NO,” came out of hers. Disappointment, painted his features. 

Oli laughed and swinging off the bike and locking his helmet on clapped Vic on the shoulder. “Maybe, just maybe, if you’re really good, I will let you on it.”

“I always knew you were my favorite,” Vic beamed, earning a shove from Kellin. 

“For that you can move yourself into your own apartment!”

“Boys! Play nice,” Rachel warned as they headed onto the grounds. 

“Yes mom!” Kellin and Vic chorused. 

 

The carnival, as usual, was full of everything bright and blinking. It wasn’t too crowded, but there were plenty of people around their age as it was ‘Senior Away’ day, where they could enter for free having graduated high school in June. Kellin figured Oli’s face must have mirrored his own when he had been looking around the U.K., as Oli had never been to an American fair before. His eyes were wide and taking it all in, and Kellin reached for his hands. 

With the afternoon heat the air became still, and fluffy clouds hid the sun intermittently, but the humidity made them sweat. Rachel disappeared for a moment and came back with the largest lemonade Oli had ever seen.

“Your bladder is going to explode,” Oli commented, to which Rachel just laughed. 

“And yours is going to be a shriveled raison if you don’t hydrate in this heat.”

“Rides first, then games,” Kellin commanded

“Kellin just likes to be a big shot with the games,” Rachel informed Oli as they walked along. “He always wins them all.”

“Yeah, you’re my best friend, but you’re a little competitive,” Vic simpered.

“Well what’s the point of playing if you aren’t trying to win,” Kellin shot back. “Right Oli?”

Oli held up his hands in surrender, “I’m piss poor at it, so I’m not the bloke to ask.”

Kellin opened his mouth to respond, but Rachel beat him to it. “Tilt-a-whirl first!” she grinned, pulling Vic who followed her happily. 

Sharing a look, both boys agreed that the other happy couple would certainly miss one another when college began. 

By the time they made it through the scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, bumper cars, carousel, wave swinger, and loop-o-plane, Kellin was sure his head might not sit right ever again. Oli seemed to have a great time, making the most terrified faces and sending Kellin into stitches. 

“This is really the reason to come though,” Vic said, offering Oli a piece of his funnel cake. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, but what is it with Americans and frying everything?” he wondered, nibbling at it. 

“Because everything tastes better fried,” Kellin corrected. You want to try fried dough, or a fried Oreo?”

Oli looked alarmed, “Oreo? That is what you people are deep frying now? Next you’ll be telling me you’ve got a shack that deep fries butter…”

Suddenly Vic was at his shoulder and turned him, pointing at a food booth a little ways away. Sure enough it offered fried blooming onions and deep-fried butter sticks. Kellin watched Oli make the most disgusted face he could scrunching his nose and sticking out his tongue. 

“Dough. I’ll stick with the dough,” he muttered, still looking horrified. Thus Kellin came back a moment later with fried dough with powdered sugar and cinnamon while Kellin got his deep fried Oreo. With Oli’s sporadic eating habits, he was actually impressed to see his boyfriend make it through ¾ of it before offering the rest to Rachel, who happily accepted. 

“Alright baby, I hope you have your arms free because I’m going to win you some prizes,” Kellin boasted, causing Oli’s eyes to light up with amusement. 

Vic waved his hand dismissively and challenged, “I can beat you in FIFA. I can beat you at these.”

Rachel just smiled and rolled her eyes, “Oli and I will cheer you both on but we don’t want to see any tears when either of you loses.”

It turned out that Kellin was exactly as competitive as he said he was. There was nothing Vic could do once Kellin began playing. He won he water shoot, balloon dart throw, knocking over the milk bottles, ring toss, and the basketball free throw. The ones that weren’t competition Vic did decently at, but for the others, Kellin smoked him with all the aggression and focus of a puma. Oli might be able to pay for more things in their relationship, but Kellin could at least win him a large stuffed bear, which the taller boy grinned and held as if Kellin had won him the Taj Mahal. 

It went downhill as they came to the shooting range though. The skies were beginning to darken and the air had gone still, as if holding its breath for the ebony haired boy as he took aim. But as the ducks popped up and down he missed. Every. Single. One. 

“It’s alright love. You can’t win them all,” Oli said kindly, but Kellin’s brow furrowed. 

“Oh yes I can,” he determined. Maybe the gun pulled left? No. Right? Maybe it was pulling up? Finally out of singles, Kellin gave up with a sigh. Even Vic tried and only managed to hit one target and Kellin was sure it was by fluke more than anything else. 

“Sorry baby. I tried. Especially since I know you’d probably like that,” he said in a dejected tone, pointing to the large stuffed t-rex hanging overhead in the stall.

Oli frowned at him and handed him the stuffed bear, hedgehog, goldfish and dog, and silently took out his wallet. Paying for a round, the stall attendant raised and eyebrow as Oli picked up the game gun and handled it as if it were a Rubick’s cube. Long fingers tugging here and clicking there, he finally held it up. The ducks came up again and Oli hit them one after the other with a loud Ting! The attendant, as well as Kellin, Vic and Rachel, were speechless. 

Plucking the dinosaur down, Oli simply said, “You might want to fix your guns to make it fair,” and joined his boyfriend and friends, their mouths wide open. 

“How did you…?” Vic’s eyes narrowed, confused. 

“My dad showed me how to shoot all sorts of things,” Oli said, handing the dinosaur to Kellin. “See? Now I can win you something,” he added, his tone a bit brighter. “And now I’m thirsty.”

“We should get these back in the car. It looks like it might rain,” Rachel warned, looking up at the darkening sky. 

“I’ll go with Rach with these and meet you guys by the lemonade?” Kellin offered, catching the keys Vic tossed him despite all the stuffed animals in his arms. 

“Sounds good,” Vic agreed. Oli frowned, glanced up at the sky, but said nothing. 

“Your boyfriend thinks Vic is going to be a train wreck without me,” Rachel said casually as Kellin and she walked back to the little beat up car. 

Casually Kellin shrugged, “I don’t know, Vic’s pretty tough. Though he really does love you a lot Rach. I think for sure he’ll at least miss you, y’know?”

“Well do me a favor?”

“Keep him from chasing college girls?” Kellin teased.

“No, I’m not worried about that. He’s too loyal for that. I know you two are best friends, and our relationship is a bit different than yours and Oli’s, but just look after him. He might be tough, and I’m going to miss him a lot, but sometimes he doesn’t have the greatest sense in the world,” she sighed, chewing on her lip. 

“I’ll tell that to Oli then. He’s the sensible one. And you can relax. He’ll be in the same apartment building as us, so we’re right next-door. We’ll make sure he stays good,” Kellin reassured. “Are you going to be ok?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll miss him and you guys though. But Vic and I aren’t quite like you and Oli. Like we love each other, but we can exist without being attached at the hip 24/7,” Rachel teased. When she saw Kellin open his mouth to refute that she pre-empted his words. “Don’t even deny it. If you two go more than twenty-four hours without seeing one another one of you threatens to shrivel up and die, I swear. Ugh is it starting to rain?”

With little warning the sky opened up, and rain came teaming down. Running for the car they jumped in, just as a loud bang of thunder rumbled through them. 

“Shit!” Kellin exclaimed.

“I know! I’m soaked!”

“No not that! Oli!”

“He’s with Vic, he’ll be fine…”

“No you don’t understand he-“

Kellin’s words were drown as a screeching siren rang through the air. The Tornado siren. Bolting from the car, the rain had lightened but a little, and Kellin raced across the mud with Rachel to the school, their nearest shelter. The rain and hail battered them, but they were just as wet as everyone else when they came to the school with a throng of other people panicked and shuffling into the hallways and crouching down. People found a position and sat, covering themselves with their jackets and holding their children close. Kellin put his arm around Rachel, ready to protect her smaller body with his own, but kept looking desperately around. Where were Oli and Vic? Could they have gone to the second shelter? But it would have been further away.

“Where are they?” Rachel looked about, her worry mirroring Kellin’s. 

“Do you have your phone? I need to call Oli.”

“Kellin he’s probably on his way in the rain! What do you need to-“

“It’s important!” Kellin cut her off. Seeing her surprised face he said softer, “Oli’s terrified of storms. They trigger his PTSD.”

“Shit,” Rachel agreed, whipping out her phone. “No service.”

“Damnit!” He exclaimed, feeling his worry tighten in his chest. “We need to-“ but suddenly the lights went out, and everyone fell quiet.

 

 

“So, you gonna tell me how much I’m going to miss Rachel? Cause Kellin and my parents already gave that spiel today and I wondered if you were in on it too,” Vic inquired, giving a sidelong look at Oli. Honestly, if someone told him that one more time, he was going to scream. 

The tall Brit just shrugged, however, and said, “Why would I need to tell you what you already know?”

“Oh thank God. Cause I was getting real tired of it.”

Oli chuckled. “I know you’ll miss her, and she’ll miss you, but your relationship is fairly strong, and you’ll have Vic and I in the same building. Rachel will make some new friends but she is steady. It will be tough, but you’ll be alright. It’s not like if someone separated Kellin and I. I’d be a goner in a week.”

“Oh c’mon. You’re tougher than you think,” replied Vic as he worked to keep up with Oli’s long stride. 

“Not particularly. Kellin is…” Oli stopped mid-sentence and looked up, Vic felt it right after. Rain. 

The boom of thunder sent Oli nearly feet in the air. “Shit!” Vic exclaimed. “C’mon, let’s get under the trees!” Oli seemed to freeze, but Vic grabbed his wrist, dragging him through the thundering rain to the tree line, a few others fleeing in panic for the rows of trees around the fairgrounds. “Oh man it’s really coming down, right?” Vic panted, hands on his knees. But when he looked over Oli was wilting down at the base of a tree, inked hands clutching over his ears and a terrified look on his face. 

“Oli? Vic called quietly, leaning down towards the other boy and watching him breath erratically for a moment before reaching out a hand. 

Flinching badly away, a keening sound came from Oli’s throat, holding his head, as if fighting to stay together. Was this what Oli’s dissociations were like? Vic had never seen it before, but if it was, it was causing panic to rise up in his chest like a title wave. “Oli what’s wrong? What’s happening?”

“K-Kellin…get…Kellin…” Oli struggled to get out.

Before Vic could respond, the loud blaring of a tornado siren split through the air, and Oli yelped and gripped his hair harder. It would have been comical to see a six foot tall beanpole covered in tattoos scared of something like a siren if he didn’t look like he wanted to just crawl out of his skin. 

“Ok dude, Kellin isn’t here right now so you’re going to have to make do with me,” Vic shouted over the noise. “That’s a tornado siren! We need to get to shelter! I know Kellin usually holds your hand right? We can do that! We just need to get out of here!”

If Vic thought it would be easy to get through to him, or if he thought any one could hold Oli’s hand to ground him, he was very wrong. Oli’s slender hands remained stiff against his head, digging in to the point that Vic was sure his scalp would start bleeding at any point. How did Kellin do this? For his own part, Oli looked like he was trying so hard to remain present with Vic, hazel eyes wide and scared, fighting against the haze. 

“Oli we don’t have a choice! We need to go!” Vic exclaimed, grabbing Oli’s wrists and pulling him up with all his strength. For such a thin guy he could be so heavy, and in the slick of rain and lightning, Vic struggled to get him down the line of pines and to the water outfield building that served as a shelter if the school wasn’t close enough. It was heavy, open, and brick, and the base was sunk into the earth. As soon as they were inside with a large throng of others their age, Vic found the quietest, darkest corner and let Oli sink down once more. He could see his friend was losing the battle with himself. Never in his life had he seen anyone react like this, and it scared him. Tears were beginning to drip down the other boy’s face, and Vic could hear his soft chants, asking for Kellin, apologizing, and trying to hold himself together under the din of the families and classmates around him. He curled onto himself as if he were trying to disappear, and with pleas on the other boy’s tongue, Vic could feel his heart breaking. 

Sitting down next to Oli, Vic tried to shield him from the rest of the people, tentatively placing a hand on the other boy’s soaked back. “I’m going to try and get a hold of Rachel. Kellin will be with her. We’ll get Kellin for you Oli. It will be ok,” he comforted. Desperately Vic tried again and again. Minutes passed and the wind howled outside briefly, but it was mostly rain and thunder. At one point he was worried that Oli might pass out or throw up, given the look on his face and how hard he was shaking.

Again and again he dialed, the storm eventually letting up and people wandering outside, some loitering around to make sure it was passed. Finally he heard a familiar voice on the other line.

“Where are you?!” Rachel burst breathlessly through the phone. 

“The water outfield building! Are you and Kellin ok? Where are you?”

“We were at the school!” She heaved. “Stay right where you are, we’re coming to you!” Without so much as a goodbye, the line went dead. Looking at Oli, Vic knew that even if he did want to move, he wouldn’t have been able to anyway. 

“Don’t worry buddy. Kellin’s on his way,” he said gently, though the other boy seemed to have fallen silent. It frustrated Vic to no end that there was nothing he could do until Kellin arrived. 

“Vic!” a familiar voice called, and Vic looked up to see Rachel burst through the open door, Kellin hot on her heels. Not wanting to raise his voice, Vic half-way stood up, keeping one hand on Oli’s back, while waving the other for their attention. Rachel’s eyes lit up as they maneuvered the crowd and made their way to the corner, nearly tackling him in a hug. 

Kellin, on the other hand, spared him a single glance before kneeling before his boyfriend and quickly took him into his arms. Oli neither flinched nor pulled away, and instead his hands slipped from his head and met around Kellin’s back. “It’s alright baby, I’m here. I’m here. You’re ok,” the shorter boy crooned. 

Relief flooded through Kellin as soon as he had Oli in his arms. He could tell the other boy wasn’t fully gone, but was in rough shape. He could feel his unsteady breathing through the shirt, but it began to calm as Kellin held him. Tension began to drop away, and Oli slowly came back to him. 

“You ok?” Kellin asked as he pulled away, holding Oli’s face and wiping the tears away with his thumb. 

“Yeah. Where were you?” he asked in a thick voice.

“We ended up in a different shelter than you. Everyone’s alright. Just some leaves and a couple sticks down. The rest of the carnival is fine. You’re fine.”

“Yeah, Vic made sure,” Oli muttered and then glanced over to the tan boy, who paused his celebration with Rachel to grin at him. 

“Hey you’re back. You alright? You were scaring the crap out of me there for a moment.”

Oli’s shoulder’s rose up as he tried to make himself small again, looking away in embarrassment. “S-sorry. I know I freaked you out. I didn’t-“

“Dude,” Vic cut him off. “It’s ok. I just didn’t know what I could do for you. Besides of course, get Kellin.”

“See baby? Vic’s not upset,” Kellin coaxed. “C’mon and let’s get out of here.”

With a deep sigh, Oli slowly stood, mumbling, “I hate my brain sometimes.”

“C’mon Oli, there’s a bathroom right next to here where you can wipe your face off,” Rachel said kindly, showing him the way. 

Kellin and Vic hung back, and waited outside the small brick park building. The carnival was still in tact, and Kellin assumed the tornado had been further away, and people were back to enjoying themselves and marveling at the hail on the ground. 

“Has he…has he always been like that?” Vic asked quietly. 

Kellin was quiet for a beat, trying to organize his thoughts. “Yeah. He has PTSD from his dad, and certain situations…noises… get to him. Crowds are awful. Thunderstorms. Loud, repetitive noises. Certain movies with lots of drug references. Seeing certain people from his past. That’s why I asked Rachel last year what dissociation is. It’s what his brain does in order to cope.”

“I felt so useless for him,” frowned Vic. “I know you mentioned once that you ground him with touch, but when I went to help him, he just freaked out.”

“Don’t feel bad. He won’t even let his mom help him when he’s like this. It always has to be me,” Kellin shrugged. “Thanks for getting him somewhere safe. I know he’s not easy when he’s like that.”

“I know you’d do the same for Rachel. I just…now I know what he meant.”

“Know what who meant?”

“We were talking earlier about Rachel and me, and he said that it would be hard but we’d be fine, but that if anything ever separated you from him, he’d be a goner. I laughed it off, thinking he was being nice, or just talking about his depression. Not…not this. This was scary. I don’t know how you get through to him.”

Kellin just shrugged though, “Sometimes I don’t know either. It gets rough. But then…then sometimes he laughs, or he smiles, or I see him relaxed and drawing, or playing with a stray cat and I just see this person in there, under all his issues, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It makes everything worth it, y’know?” 

Vic sniffed and shook his head. “Leave it to you to find the most challenging boyfriend. At least he looks tough on the outside…”

“I wonder if that baby stopped crying…” a voice behind Kellin sniggered. 

“Did you see his face in the corner? I thought the gringo was going to panic…”

Whipping around Kellin saw Brandon and Josh, close friends of Derek, and felt his blood boil. He opened his mouth but in a surprise move, Vic beat him to it. 

“Listen here you shit tips, you wouldn’t last two days his shoes. So you can just shut your fucking faces before I shut them for you.”

The two boys might have answered, but then they caught the look on Kellin’s face and muttered, “Whatever…losers…” and wandered away. 

When Kellin turned back around he saw Oli and Rachel, standing at the edge of the bathroom, Oli watching Vic with wide hazel eyes. Vic just shrugged as if it were no big deal and bragged, “Those guys think they’re so tough but I remember rumors of Brandon wetting the bed until he was thirteen so, I’m pretty sure I could take them with just my pinky finger. Fuck them, right?”

This seemed to be just the thing to say, because Oli smirked and agreed, “Sound like a couple cunts to me.”

After finally getting lemonade and playing a few more games, all four walked back to the parking lot, Oli obviously relieved to find his motorcycle relatively unscathed. 

“Can we follow you?” Kellin asked. “I don’t have room for all the prizes on the bike.”

Rachel rolled her eyes as if it were some kind of burden. “We suppose if you insist…”

“Sweet! I’ll grab the helmet!” Kellin called and began to dig around the back of the car. 

Vic noticed Oli staring at him though and asked, “What?”

Scythes of chocolate hair bounced back and forth as Oli shook his head. “Nothing. Just thinking that you’re brilliant, and I’m really grateful that you’re my friend. Soppy stuff like that.”

Vic didn’t know what to say for a moment. Kellin was never particularly overt about warm feelings, and hearing it from Oli was just strange. Was this the utterly sweet side of Oli that Kellin saw? “No problem man. You’re Kell’s boyfriend, and you’re my friend and teammate. Besides. Kellin would kill me if I let anything happen to you. Gotta protect his vegan chicken nugget…”

“What?” Oli laughed, and Kellin interrupted by yelping as he pinched himself with the helmet strap. “Here love,” Oli said, doing it for him. “You ready?”

“I was born ready!” Kellin grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly and sliding behind Oli on the bike. As Oli turned it on, Kellin wrapped his arms around the boy’s warm body, as Rachel gave him a thumbs up. Waiting for the old beat up Aries to pull out of the spot, Kellin tried to get used to the vibration and the feel of Oli’s back against his chest, or it was going to be an awkward ride. It was easier to balance than he thought, but also harder to position himself. Like all things, there was good in the bad, and bad in the good, but overall, this was a very good thing. 

The evening sun sent shadows across the trees and set the openings between them on fire as Oli pulled them out onto the main road. The little white Aries sped away in front of them, windows open, and Vic’s and Rachel’s arms out in freedom in the warm breeze. With a shift in gears, Oli effortlessly moved to pass them. When Kellin looked, Vic grinned and flipped him the bird while Rachel had her head back, laughing uproariously. With that image and the feel of his boyfriend’s strong back against his chest, Kellin let his summer close. They were going to be ok.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a small connector piece before starting college. Modeled after the carnival we had in my own hometown, though typically we didn't get tornadoes with it.


End file.
